This shoot with the astronaut Time Peake took place at a small studio near Kings Cross. The idea behind the shoot was to use gels and colours to give it a slight futuristic and unearthly feel.
Tim had been to a reunion with his old airforce buddies the night before - and although surely hungover - was cheerful and as nice as can be. Meeting someone who has been a test pilot and traveled to space triggers so many questions. The small youtube clips of Tim in space, showing us what weightlessness is and how things react in space, left me thinking he was nice. But sometimes, what you see on TV is not what you get. However - in real life Tim was as nice, if not even nicer than what I had expected.
Many of the questions I asked him were surely questions he had answered a thousand times. But still - every question I asked, Tim replied with great consideration and a genuine smile on his face, as if it was the first time he had been asked the question.
I don’t know if the young ‘test pilot Tim’ was as friendly and approachable as the ‘astronaut Tim’? I always imagined a test pilot to be a bit more abrasive - Tom Cruise in Top Gun like. But maybe he was always as chilled and relaxed. But I like to imagine that traveling to space must change you as a person. You must get a realisation of how little you actually are in the larger context of things, and maybe you look at the world in a more relaxed way. The perspective of what is important must have changed, and maybe the solitude of space makes an astronaut enjoy all people, even if they are all asking the same questions again and again!
Shot for Random House
